Britain faces up to Brexit (source: Economist)

[Pete G]

A quote from the Official Treasury prediction of the immediate aftermath of a Leave vote

The reality: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brit ... SKCN1AW0PG

Still, those Brexit liars eh?

Falling unemployment eh? Wonder if that's anything to do with EU workers returning home...and potential EU newcomers not bothering to come to the UK after all? Check your local hospital, dental surgery, university or agricultural gangmaster for verification.

The number of EU [but not UK] citizens in employment in the UK in June 2017 was 1.6% higher than the total after the Brexit referendum.

This was despite the introduction of measures by the NHS to restrict places for immigrants by [inter alia] requiring basic standards of English for new hires, even though one might have thought they had been imposing such standards before Brexit [though apparently not].

This in itself is quite an interesting concept as the EU directive and the accompanying UK law [the Equality Act 2010] both state that such actions can be criminally liable either indirectly, as in as the requirement for a good standard of English is discriminatory against non-UK applicants unless the employer can prove that the level of English is at the absolute minimum required to perform the role [i.e. the employer is guilty of discrimination until proven innocent], or directly by insisting that only English be used in the workplace [and there is no defence of necessity for direct discrimination]. This obviously could change once we are no longer under the thrall of EU directives, and UK employees will be able to insist potential applicants speak English as a basic requirement.

In the meantime the figures *could* be explained by the return of many EU citizens returning to their country of origin where they had been previously unemployed and claiming benefits in the UK, which would leave overall EU citizens in the UK in employment rising, whilst numbers of EU citizens were dropping overall.

But wasn't that kinda the idea?

[Jimgym]

Taken from today's Independent. The number of EU citizens working in the UK has hit a new record high, official figures show.

There were an estimated 2.37 million people from EU member states excluding Britain in employment between April and June this year.
The figure is up by 126,000 on the same period in 2016 - which included the Brexit vote - and the highest number since comparable records started 20 years ago.
UK's unemployment rate drops to its lowest level since 1975
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 96151.html
Now, what was that about getting facts right Lloyd? Seems it's a prerequisite for Remainers also.

[Poppy]

Lloyd ,never mind me burying my head in the sand when you are clutching at straws! I have won my bet as it took a couple of days but I knew you would not be able to resist pouring cold water over the good news we posted!!
But I must say that your arguments are so seriously flawed - we talk about unemployment going down and you talk about EU workers leaving the country .Well that does not make sense does it unless you infer that it was people from the EU who were unemployed and if so then surely that is good and we don't want to be paying benefits to unemployed people from the EU?

[Royal]

Good posts Jimgym and Poppy.

Lloyds' glass is always half full

Except, that is, when hot air is taken into account...

[Jimgym]

Good posts Jimgym and Poppy.

Lloyds' glass is always half full

Except, that is, when hot air is taken into account...

That comment has made me roar with laughter Royal, thank you!